By Way Of The Drum
by TheLionTree
Summary: Family died Hulk's first rampage & Magda is out for revenge. The younger sister to a PR genius, she find her life a shell of its former self-her passion restored when she discovers Hulk alive & working for the Avengers. Unable to abide this she summons Loki to her side to help her destroy Hulk. Unfortunately the Trickster God has other plans. Dr Strange-ish/Golden age influnces


This is a work in progress, if people actually read and comment that they like it, I'll be prompted to write more. First few chapters will be back story, and then you'll start to get your Loki-fetish pay off. He's going to be a bit of an ass, however, as I'm a golden age fan. I'm also hoping to give the OC a bit of a Doctor Strange feel. Doctor Strange being the only asshole in that universe who makes Tony Stark look mild mannered.

There will probably be smut at some point, because I'm a perv.

no beta checking this-there will be mistakes-will take offers for Beta.

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"My darling sister it's your birthdaaaaaay," The A's went on forever, making Magda hold the phone away from her ear in annoyance. Listening to voicemail messages had to be the only thing worse than talking to Jessica in person

"Don't forget you're meeting me, Mom, Dad and Rodger for lunch at one-thirty." The message went on but Magda punched the seven on her phone, so she didn't have to listen to the rest.

Birthday's in the office were awkward enough without her sister meddling. The office manager loved to plant party hats on people and sing to them over dry chocolate cake. Unable to avoid the attention, Magda sat at her desk with a fake smile as a woman who barely knew her, forced her neighbors to sing along. Unfortunately more singing would occur when she met her family for lunch, her sister unable to resist a chance to make a spectacle.

Focusing on her duties, she shuffled papers and inputted numbers until the clock struck one-fifteen. As she put on her jacket she noticed people gathered around a TV in the supervisors office. No one noticed as she declared she was leaving for lunch and she didn't think much about it. Whatever was going on in the news could wait until after her lunch time embarrassment.

On the street a lot of people jogged pasted, jostling her as they made their way around the city. This place felt like a sea and she a row boat, ill equipped to navigate. A few more blocks and these runners thinned out, giving her enough time to put on her brave face as she neared the table where Roger was waving. Jess stood to wave too, her arm a mess of shining bracelets and her hair sparkling in the sun. Rodger looked at her sister and it made Magda cringe. He'd admitted one drunken night he'd only talked to her to get near Jess and ended up liking her anyways. They'd been together three years and he seemed satisfied to stand with the dark sister, always in the shadow of another's glorious light. Still, if she let Jess's allure prevent her from making friends-she'd be friendless, so she hid her hurt at his betrayal and waved back sheepishly.

Jess took a few steps away from the table, moving towards her for a hug. They both paused as screams came from the end of the block , just in time to see a car slam down on top of the table the rest of the family sat at. Magda screamed as the vehicle rolled over and knocked her sister aside. Her feet were frozen, and she clutched her purse to her chest as a roaring green monster landed on the ground and ripped a hole into the building as if it were wet paper.

The muscular creature roared, as sirens blared behind him and helicopters began to swarm over head. He jumped up from the position he had landed in and stampeded towards Magda. Still unable to move, she watched the creature stride past her as if she didn't exist. In that moment she came to understand how small and powerless ants must feel.

"Magda," Jess screamed from behind her.

She turned to see her sister on the ground, her arm twisted and broken, and blood trailing down the right side of her face from where falling glass had cut her. Before she realized she cradled her sister's soft downy hair with the palm of her hand, sheltering her from the vacated creature. How this would help she had no idea but it felt more honest then pretending anything made sense.

"It hurts," Jess pleaded, and repeated the words over and over again as she closed her eyes.

"It means your spine is okay," Magda knew it wasn't really comforting, but she didn't know what else to say.

An ambulance started up the road and she helped her sister lay down on the ground before flagging the vehicle down for help. Two men jumped out, one grabbing her by the head and looking at something on her face. She touched a cut on her cheek and realized she must be bleeding.

"it's nothing," Magda assured him and pointed at her sister. "Her arm's broken and I think her shoulder. She's alive. Save her."

"You're in shock," the paramedic assured her and she nodded, to numb to do anything else. He was right, and the world around her was torn to pieces, the buildings had holes, there were sirens and booming sounds off in the distance. Magda knew she would be okay, she just couldn't process everything right now.

"Take care of my sister and I'll be fine. I'll walk to the hospital down the street, that's where you'll take her right?"

The paramedic nodded and ran over to help his partner load her sister on a gurney. Watching with the passive face of someone in a theater she saw her sister now, still golden and beautiful despite being broken and mangled. Another ambulance came. Men and women scattered about, picking up and loading the vehicles hurt people then speeding away. The machine roared down the road towards the hospital, passed overturned cars and debris from broken buildings, never faltering in the face of destruction.

These extra people began to pick through the rubble, the idea of it waking her up and sending Magda walking over to the wreckage that covered the bodies of her parents and boyfriend. The sign from the café had come down on top of the car that crushed them. She seemed to remember the monster ramming his fist into the sign, but couldn't be sure, it all seemed blurry. All she could remember was the scream he made as he ran at her.

She found herself at the edge of the mess, just over Rodger's body. His torso looked normal while his legs disappeared under the heavy neon sign. She could see where he'd been pinched out and blood and organs were oozing out. Not too much, just a little. It reminded her of the time her mother had shown her how to ice a cake. Happy Birthday. She turned in time to see a henna'd head lifted from the ruble. Just the head, no body, and she turned back to Robert's corpse. She could deal with his peaceful expression but didn't want to see whatever remained of her mother's skull.

A box protruded from his lover's coat pocket and she reached inside as another ambulance pulled up behind her. The paramedics shouted and ran towards her as she pulled back the blue top and stared at a small diamond ring. One of the paramedics stopped beside her as the other reached down to make sure Rodger was dead. The medic looked at the box, then at Rodger's corpse, and back at Magda. Sympathy flooded her eyes before she closed the box and pushed her towards the ambulance.

"I'm okay," she shouted as turned away from the rubble. The medic's moved to stop her but were distracted by the groan of another wounded person. Magda ignored them and walked down the street towards the hospital. If they noticed her leaving they made no indication, now that she had the will to yield to their protests now.

Four city blocks in three-inch heels. The city might as well be silent, because the clopping noise of her shoes rang off the buildings and deafened her to anything. A few people tried to pull her into subway tunnel in case the monster came back, but she broke free and began to run towards the hospital. Enough debris stood in her way, she wondered how she could keep walking but did. This had been her life, hadn't it? She didn't know why she went to college, dated Rodger, worked at her job, but she did. She always just did things and thought about the results later.

In the hospital she found herself adrift in a sea of gurneys and bleeding people. Her hand guided her down the halls past waiting rooms, the blue box with the ring seeming to guide her towards something. Nothing, I lead her to nothing, except an angry looking nurse who forced her into a chair. Sitting down seemed good, so she did that for right now. Only right now soon passed into hours. Eventually the medical staff began to clean out the lobby she lingered in, the box in her hand jammed against her knee and palm. The people around her flicked like shadows and she wondered if she'd get in trouble for missing work.

"Miss?" rang in her ears , then repeated a second time.

"My sister is here somewhere."

"I see," the doctor responded, tilting her head up as he shined a flashlight in Magda's eyes. "How did you get that cut on your cheek?"

"Falling glass," she said flatly.

"You're in shock, but if all you have is a cut then you're lucky. What's your sister's name?"

"Jessica Hill," she responded.

"The pretty blond girl with the broken clavicle and arm?" The doctor laughed. "I know where she is. She's been asking about you, and I'm glad you're alright. We need a happy story around here."

Magda laughed too, because it seemed like the right thing to do right now. "She's already schmoozed the medical staff. Sounds just like her."

The doctor seemed uncomfortable with her sarcasm but she brushed it off. Her brain wouldn't let her process anything external at the moment. He continued to talk to her about her sister but she ignored it. It didn't really matter. Soon the doctor flagged a passing nurse and had her show Magda where to go.

The halls all looked the same and promised to confuse her when she tried to leave. She soon found her way to a single room occupied by her sister who seemed excited to see her. An arm fell around her waist and she looked at the blue nylon cradling Jess's arm. There were men in the room doting over her sister but that didn't seem odd. The cast seemed odd, the sling seemed, odd, the hospital seemed odd but Jessica's charm seemed normal.

"My poor sister, this would happen on your birthday."

The men hanging around Jess seemed sympathetic to this being Magda's birthday, but she was still too stunned to react.

"Are mom and dad okay? What about Rodger?"

"Dead," she whispered and Jess started to cry. Her tears were cooled by the men at her side, but her sorrow seemed showy. Squeezing the box in her hand, Magda slipped it into her pocket and let it go. None of them seemed to have noticed it and she didn't want more pity floating around.

One man with a Band-Aid over his forehead reached over and touched Magda's hand. "Are you okay?"

"No."

###

The next day shell shock kept Magda silently at her sister's side, as her sister applied makeup with one hand and convinced the hospital staff to let her be interviewed. Jess had a master's in Public Relations and it showed right now. She'd had one of the men tending to her type out a quick blog post on her cell phone and Jess prepared herself to soak up the attention. The hospital staff allowed her to be wheeled outside where Jess told the story of the green monster who murdered her family on her sister's birthday.

Grabbing her hand, Jess pulled her sister to her and spoke into a microphone. Every time she watched it later, Magda could only see the moment she woke up for the first time since it happened. Lights flashed and she looked around, a ghoul suddenly coming to life. "My poor sister didn't know it, but her boyfriend, Rodger McGregor, chose today to propose marriage. Our lives have been ruined by this horrible mutant menace, and I hope the government is doing everything to stop that beast."

Cameras clicked, capturing an unflattering photograph of dark haired Magda as she stared in shock at her beautiful sister. The box burned in her pocket but none f the photographers knew that. At least someone had cleaned the blood off her face, she thought, and then tried to figure out how to escape.

After she failed to say anything or cry the circus dissipated and she left Jess to convalesce. After sitting around for hours, until Jess had fallen asleep, Magda walked a lonely mile to her apartment. The early morning light shown yellow-they had caught the monster last night. Her phone rang for the first time since before the accident and her bosses secretary sobbed on the other end. They saw her on the news and didn't expect her to come in for a few days.

"Have you made plans for your parents?" The secretary asked between tears.

"I guess I should do that after I sleep." Magda didn't think this was how should react but it was the best she could do. At some point she hung up the phone and put it in her pocket.

She had arrived at her apartment at some point and stood in front of her bathroom mirror. Looking back at her stood a familiar stranger. She became fascinated with the bandage on her cheek, and looked at it for several minutes before she noticed the clamshell holding her birth control. Picking up the pink plastic device, Magda opened it and started robotically ejecting each pill from its foil wrapper. Half way through she laughed and turned on the sink to wash away the medication.

"Who needs you anymore?"

Next she grabbed her mouth wash, unscrewed the lid, and dumped it down the drain. Then she grabbed her eye makeup, slammed it on the counter, turned it upside down, and released the pink powder in an eruption of color. She grabbed her tooth paste, realized how absurd she was being, and punted it off the mirror.

Sinking to the floor, she finally started to cry-, falling over onto her bathmat and cursing the green creature that ripped her world out from under her. She felt guilty that her family died celebrating her birthday but the only thing that seemed worse-being here. These thoughts drifted with her as she sat up and floated towards her bed. When she hit the cool sheets she saw her sister, chomping down a handful of pain pills and primping her hair before she went out to talk to the press. The way her lips quivered and looked pathetic as she preened for the world made Magda hate her sister even more.


End file.
